Hearing aids are one form of hearing assistance devices that are used to correct for hearing loss. Hearing aids provide amplification of sound in ranges of hearing loss; however, simply amplifying sound is not necessarily adequate. Hearing aids also frequently require special attention to reduction of feedback and to placement of one or more microphones for proper hearing.
In one type of hearing aid, the behind-the-ear hearing aid (“BTE”), one or more microphones are found on the hearing aid enclosure that rests behind the ear. Such devices do not have the benefit of the ear's anatomy for reflecting sound to a focal point, such as at the ear canal. Thus, such devices may receive sounds from a different set of angles than which is normally heard. In noisy environments, the user may have difficulty hearing due to the reception of noise generally about the user.
There is a need in the art for a system which will provide controlled directivity of received sound for hearing assistance devices. Such a system should provide a controllable region of reception so that the user of a hearing assistance device can better discern sources, even in noisy environments.